Aliso Creek's problems show steady flow

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Restoring Aliso Creek has challenged state, local and federal authorities – not to mention environmentalists and developers – for decades.

The creek's main stem stretches 19.5 miles, draining water from the Cleveland National Forest through seven cities and meeting the Pacific Ocean.

The restoration problem – and the creek itself – has deepened in the past several decades because major federal funding dried up. Now, the creek poses continued threats to infrastructure along the waterway and contains a bacterial load that has remained relatively stable over the past decade, according to a recent annual report, said Tony Felix of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Shaped by rapid development beginning in the 1970s, creek flows increased as contributing city waters cut deeper and wider into the surrounding land. Structures along the waterline have faced serious erosion risk, and corrosive “hot soils” are eating through the steel pipes of a sludge line running through Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park.

The goal is to restore the creek – decrease the bacterial load, reduce water flow from contributing communities and help bring wildlife back to a county park designated as a sanctuary – while protecting the infrastructure that is near the water, such as sewer and sludge lines.

Challenges that have hampered more global creek restoration efforts include:

Securing federal funding.

Disagreements over how to restore the watershed.

Too many jurisdictions and too many complicated funding tools.

STALLED PLANS

Many stakeholders thought major problems with Aliso Creek would be addressed through a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers study that began in 2004.

The Corps looked for solutions to restore the lower eight miles of the Aliso Creek watershed, at a cost of $3 million in federal and state money – about $1.4 million in state clean-water bond revenue.

But funding for the study dried up, resulting in no major changes to the creek through the federal project and only about $250,000 left, said Mary Anne Skorpanich, manager of the OC Watersheds program.

However, other city- and county-level projects – such as an ultraviolet treatment plant in Aliso Viejo and noninvasive-species restoration in the park – have moved forward, Skorpanich said.Those efforts follow years of reprimand by state and federal officials and required monitoring of the creek's bacterial load. But state and county officials disagree on whether bacteria has decreased in the creek over time, citing various nuances in the most recent 2012 Aliso Creek Watershed Runoff Management Annual Report, which was submitted March 1.

Tom Rosales, general manager of the South Orange County Wastewater Authority, said creek-level work hasn't been comprehensive, leaving agencies such as his to address a regional issue individually. The agency is spending $4 million to replace its 30-year-old corroded-steel sludge line.

“We've patched and dealt with our infrastructure for the past 20 years, to make sure that our investment is protected, but it hasn't done anything in terms of increasing creek stability, in terms of the bigger issue,” Rosales said. “Right now, there is just not any driver, any single entity driving this issue.”

Without a plan, portions of the creek will continue to wreak havoc on surrounding communities, especially during storms, according to a 2009 Corps report.

In light of work that had been done by the Corps, the county presented a $45 million, large-scale solution called the Stabilization, Utility Protection and Environmental Restoration project. But the idea, which proposed concrete structures buried in the creek to divert water flow among other improvements, was unpopular and was dropped, Skorpanich said.

“It wasn't just the money issue; it was how it was being appropriated,” said the Sierra Club's Penny Elia, who opposed the project and has been in stakeholder meetings concerning the Aliso Creek watershed for more than a decade.

THE FUTURE

To Elia, the solution lies in controlling how cities dump into the stream and how other major players – such as the South Orange County Wastewater Authority – could contribute to its bacterial load. She sees a solution in strengthening regulations so cities can't dump into the creek and shutting down the nearby wastewater treatment plant.

“We want the whole darn coastal treatment plant shut down, and we want the capacity to be improved over at J.B. Latham so we get the pumping of the poop out of the park, out of the creek,” Elia said.

Rosales said the wastewater authority can't simply shut down a treatment plant.

“It's a challenge to be there, but our main mission is to replace and protect our infrastructure there,” he said.

Until all the players figure it out, the Aliso Creek will keep flowing. And so the authority will relocate its pipeline, replace it with more rugged materials and hope for the best.

“Erosion from the creek continues,” Rosales said. “My take is the creek is going to continue to go where it wants to go, and whether it impacts our pipeline or not, it is to be seen.”

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